Brownies My Story

This story belongs to twins Gregor

and Arran and their mummy, Kirstin.

It's a tiny tale about Mummy Kirstin's life

and her love of the Brownies and Guides.

No, we're not racing just now. We're doing a good job.

Are we making a nice line?

And now it's time for Mummy Kirstin to take Gregor and Arran

on a journey of discovery and share her memories.

The boys are counting the badges on their blankets.

Three, four, five. 11.

-11.

-12!

-I think we maybe counted that one twice. I think maybe 11.

I have lots of badges.

I started collecting badges when I was in the Brownies.

The Brownies are a club for girls that teach them lots of things.

And a great place to meet friends.

A similar club was started for boys. It's called the Cub Scouts.

Nowadays, girls can join too.

What fun!

Did you know that the Brownies are celebrating their 100th birthday?

But they weren't always called the Brownies.

When they started, they were called Rosebuds. That's a funny name.

And that's an old photo of them.

But people didn't like that name, so it was changed to the Brownies.

And this is the man who started the Scouts, Guides and Brownies.

His name is Lord Robert Baden-Powell.

This photo was taken a very long time ago.

Brownies, Guides and Scouts get awarded badges for being good

at different activities,

like drawing, exploring and baking cakes.

And look - Mummy Kirstin has over 200 badges.

When you're in Brownies,

you're split into little groups called sixes.

This was my six badge. I was an Elf.

Do you know who got an extra special badge? Papa Cook.

He got an extra special Scout badge called a silver acorn.

-Would you like to try it on?

-Yes, please.

-I want to try it on.

-Oh, that looks good. What do you think?

Let me see.

This is Papa Cook, who's Mummy's grandpa,

and he was in the Scouts when he was a little boy.

When he grew up, he became a Scout leader.

Look, he's wearing the silver acorn badge.

-Can Gregor have a shot of trying it on?

-Yes.

-And I can try on your Brownie sash.

-That's my Guide sash.

You can try that on. Wow, look at that. Let me see, Gregor. Look at me.

Gregor looks like a real Scout, wearing Papa Cook's badge.

Let me see you. There we are. No, that arm stays there.

And that arm goes through.

And that's you.

And Aaron is wearing Mummy's Girl Guide sash,

and it has lots of badges on it too.

I wonder what Mummy Kirstin and the boys are up to now?

So, boys, when I was in Brownies, I used to go away for weekends

with my unit, and we would stay in a house...

-What's a unit?

-That's the name for a group of Brownies.

And we would have lots of fun in the house, and then when I was

a bigger girl, I got to go away with Guides,

and we got to stay in tents.

-Good!

-Yeah.

-Do you think you would like to build a tent in the house?

-Yes.

-We need the table.

-Yes, table. And what else, Gregor?

What else do we need?

-Blankets.

-Blankets. There are some over here. Let's get the blankets.

Gregor, there's one for you.

OK? Here.

Let's do big shakes. Big shakes.

Big shakes. Gregor.

Where's Arran gone? Where's Arran gone? Can you catch it? Look.

Right, you pull it over.

-Do you think that's right? Does that look like a good tent?

-Doing this.

We need more blankets. We need that to be the door, don't we?

-There we go.

-There we go. But how are we going to get in?

We need to move this round. Let's pull it up a wee bit.

Does that look OK?

Are you going in?

-Is there room for me?

-Yes.

-Okey-dokey. I'm coming in.

Making a tent indoors is a great idea, Mummy Kirstin. Well done!

Maybe they will have a little nap now.

Brownies and Guides are not just about camping.

They have great fun performing too.

For a long time, the Guides and Scouts have come together

to entertain people with their performances.

It's called a Gang Show.

They would sing and dance and make lots of people happy,

just like the Guides in this old film.

APPLAUSE

Boys, when I started Brownies, I decided I would like to get a badge.

The very first badge that I did was the hostess badge.

This is Mummy Kirstin's hostess badge.

She had to bake cakes, decorate them and invite people to a tea party,

and now, the boys are going to do the same.

Chocolate chip, chocolate chip.

-Wow!

-Are we putting any more on it? That looks lovely.

-It looks really cool.

-Will we put it on the plate?

And now that you're finished your cakes, you can

-try one of the chocolate chips. All done. Let's find a space.

-No more.

No more. The cakes are all done. Good work, boys!

Well done, boys. Those cakes look amazing.

And they are the same colour

as Mummy Kirstin's old Brownie uniform - brown and yellow.

I wonder who will come to their tea party?

-This is my

-gran. Hello. I used to be a Brownie too.

This is our granny.

Hello. I was a Brownie too.

There's Granny Janet

when she was a little girl in her Brownie uniform, a long time ago.

And when she got married, her Brownie unit went to the wedding.

And when Gran Anne got married,

her Brownies went to the church service too.

And you'll never guess who went to see Mummy Kirstin get married.

Yes, her Brownie unit.

Gregor and Arran are playing hosts at the their tea party.

-Will we give one to Granny first?

-Thank you very much.

And don't those cakes look great? I hope they save one for me.

-Good. Which one do you think, Aaron?

-Tasty.

Which one do you think I should have?

That one looks lovely.

-It has a good pattern on it.

-Try it.

-They're delicious.

-Oh, they're lovely.

You've been busy boys...

doing all this for Gran and Granny.

OK, boys. We've brought you here,

because this is where I used to come to Brownie camp

when I was little girl.

While I was here, I got to do one of my favourite things

and I got a badge for it.

Can you think what the favourite thing was?

-Build a fire.

-Build a fire. Who's going to help us build a fire?

-Daddy.

-This is our

-daddy. Hello.

Daddy Nick was a Cub, then a Scout.

And here he is with his big brothers and sister in their uniforms.

Gregor is helping Daddy Nick find sticks for the camp fire,

while Arran helps Mummy.

One more.

-Thank you.

-Yeah!

Oh, it is one. It's huge!

Good job, boys! Now, off to start the fire.

Daddy Nick is a Scout leader and he knows how to light a camp fire

and keep it safe.

And now one of their favourite things they love doing at camp

is making toast.

Their bread is on a long stick with a special fork

so they're not too close to the hot fire.

Do you want to hold it?

Look, the flames are turning the bread brown. Nearly done.

Starting to go nice and crispy like toast.

Gregor's toast is ready.

OK, is your toast ready for chocolate spread?

Camp fire toast always tastes yummy.

-Is it good?

-Mm-hm.

Is yours tasty?

Hi, girls, Arran and Gregor have come to Brownies

to see what it is that we do here. Can we all say hello?

-ALL:

-Hello!

Very good. Can anybody tell them,

they want to find out what we do at Brownies. What do we do? Yes, Gracie?

-We play games and have lots of fun.

-Yes, we do.

Can we play the parachute game with the boys, please?

What do we think? Does everyone want to play parachute games?

Let's get the parachute out, then.

That parachute is huge and very bright.

I wonder what's going to happen next.

The Brownies are making the parachute go up and down,

but where are Gregor and Arran?

They're running underneath it!

Brownies really know how to have fun.

Wasn't that good fun, boys?

-Yeah!

-Yeah!

Thank you for telling us stories about Brownies and Guides.

It was my pleasure. I had fun.

Can you remember all the fun things we did?

We can sew the badges on our blankets.

You showed us your Brownie and Guide badges.

And this was my sixth badge. I was an Elf.

We built a tent in the house.

Does that look OK?

Right, go on in.

We had to decorate cakes.

We had a tea party.

Gran and Granny were there.

There's chocolate chips on them!

We made toast on the fire.

It was yummy!

We went to a Brownie night.

We played with the parachute.

It was good fun.

-So what was your favourite thing that we did, Arran?

-Er...

-eat toast.

-Eating the toast with the chocolate spread? Very good.

And what's the favourite thing that you did, Gregor?

-Making the parachute.

-Making the parachute?

That was great with all the Brownies, wasn't it?

My favourite thing was getting to do all these fun things with you,

but especially just getting to spend some time with you. It was good.

-Now, would you like a special surprise?

-Yeah!

-Yeah!

Want to see what's hiding under here?

-What is it?

-What do you think that could be?

Is it a badge for your blankets?

-Thank you, Mummy.

-You're welcome.

-Thank you, Mummy.

-You're welcome.

Want a big cuddle?

What a fabulous heap of fun.

That was twins Gregor and Arran

and Mummy Kirstin's tiny tale about the Brownies and Guides.

And now that Mummy Kirstin has shared her story with Gregor

and Arran, it's time for them to start their own story.

Do you know someone who has a story to share?